AI: Myanmar still arresting activists

YANGON, Myanmar, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Amnesty International said Friday contrary to the Myanmar military junta's claim, political arrests are ongoing, with 96 coming just in the past two months.

The human rights group in London said its research contradicts assurances from Prime Minister Thein Sein in early November to U.N. Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari that no further arrests would occur in the country, formerly called Burma, where pro-democracy protests in September were crushed.

"Four months on from the violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators,

rather than stop its unlawful arrests the Myanmar government has

actually accelerated them," said Catherine Baber, AI's director of Asia-Pacific program.

"The new arrests in December and January target people who have attempted to send evidence of the crackdown to the international community, clearly showing the government's chief priority is to silence its citizens who would hold them to account."

The group said it has also received reports that some of the detainees have been tortured.

The report said at least 700 of those arrested during and since the September protests remain behind bars. It said 1,150 political prisoners held prior to the protests have not been released.